THE WAIHI MINE.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1047, 9 February 1911, Page 6

THE WAIHI MINE.

p OF SHAREHOLDERS! fe, DISCUSSIONS 1 " ■

OP RESOLUTIONS. &>>•■; :s£*•!', Teleeraph-Preia Association.) : • Ji-i' t • Auckland, February 8. I ;y of shareholders in the Waihi rjv, Gpldmining Company' was held in the b'v.CliginlieT • of Commerce this evening for t i; o£' discussing tho position fc..-; 'f that -itas arisen in. regard to the mine, j .': '! The:,meeting, which was called by' tho Stock * Exohange, was 1 largely t>, attended, there being somo 150 persons h; present, including a, fair percentage of !'• ladies.'!':•';■■ • . v ■ [•■','; v Mr,'J'F:' Hull'(chairman of tho Auckf.., landr.Stock Exchange), in opening the ! meeting, stated that tho Exchango hud south for not takijig ' inore.'vigorous' action,' and;by. somo here. {? r id°' n S rob much. Action was token by' ,i the.. Exchango somo nine months as;o in i ■■ endeavouring to have tho daily register [.'<' opened'for inspection in order that it f, \Ji>u»ht. be possible to follow tho move-' t;. jnents of shares. Referring to the dn- [ . vyou;n6omont': made in September last that i, ' weekly returns would-be'reduced i,, '■ he said, this put confidence t. .'into; shareholders, but-on January 28 they %: got in,tho shape of the reMr. Williams, engineer at the jw report was of tremendous i :■ importance, nnd. he thought- it should l^'.iftavo;;been cabled Homo immediately it >~Tfas.iwritten, and a copy handed to the ,:Uoa>li'press for. publication. Tho cxtra- ■;' 1 -':>™n«y i ." P«t of tli© innttcr, however, .i •Kasfjtliat although .the report., was. only ; i jnailed to London on December H, it took iv. effect; m London on December 21, shares from JBS -lGs,-. 12s. GoT p,|Such;a fall cpnld not bo explained hy a . of information!from.somowhere; '■ ; -"ilh£f{Jv on -lJ h S t „ su ? llV ' ''uforniation 'iW h / he,knowled K e of the ■i' 8 " hurt- of nho - hiaby/ '^♦?»^t th l!r c , l l airn, . a » a »<l to do what :.;:,Mr. John Colbcck was elected to tho ■i- iwv '» ,'. Hopkins, metal urgisf for -tho New Zealond Minos Trust, opened the .-.discusaon. ; Ho )S aid that as asW ~ ho'wished to: call attention to certain H toMB- published; by the local mZg£ i:-^ I S*f„^^.'? l?l,a <?.. rcports «''' ,li t«dAiigSst' F lhat i„ D^ mb ? r 2 ' 1 1 l9 V, HeSubmitted I, .that, in tho faco of these 'nnhlishn.l yhgures and" the fact thaf up P "to l the b.end;:of. i igo9 the Martha mdo "had been f v f{?! v if 10 ' q x U f stlon 'or-tliis body, of -ehareholders to'maintain that they were ' :: off t iri eP tL" lfo , m^ t tl l at a *"<>us"falling* • n -T? «. a - ,u l °f tha miDO ha( l taken I -place. ■.., If they took up th s position they ~ eimplr advertised the fact that thoy ha*d' I*Z v? ' tho V*VUm-- reports'in a I man ncr. It ; must have been I -perfectly obvious to.'anyouo' who '' hod I- % ?i'f± at l Car fo ! *»■ "Ports that I■ things, at j th ? mine, wcro approaching a PS£f'- a?d . aat . a '{»rther deduction S -ta ■^•?^fi WM ' 1 ,^ ,ne . nt % II scorned to-him action of :the directors' in rc- .; ducing.ithe output was tho natural out:th?Vf f tafb ? f a "?"S'4isclosed in •'- th?= rT thly { !r f por t s -, J Ho ""Ved "that , fn f S;i° f, f h^ eholdcrs rec °8 u '«i. that ,: full details of the values in the lodes .-:■ have been issued in the, monthly mininc '^■i*T r^?iJ d i. u - nd^ the ¥i' cim J™ s «nees''do .iioteco,that any benefit,is to bo-gained ;by expressing, a want,of confidence m-tho f local management." (Cries of **Ohl" and I; ■ derisive laughter.) •-.■■ • ■, - ■•■ ■• I ';, Mr. Bull said'it was only, fair. for. 0 that tho gchtleman i'J!P?v h . ad )» ?t , w , as a metallurgist , in the employ of. tho Waihi Gold Mining Lv (Cries of "Ohl") •V ■ . v;,;• /■ A :-aharohplder: It.Js ijust as/well to Kl know fho. had tho audacity to mote such !;: «; motion.;. (Laughter and.applause.) K - J? eakin ß somowhat heat-l!-.irai!l a tu ft?* th . oy wc , re tneroto defend |v: thelt bwh Interests and; not: those of the : - d iJ5 9 -?i or w hema ,s a S en l (!llt - r (Applause.) ,v Personally, he would bo.prepared to movo .a; vote of no-confidenoe in the managc;,.jiment. ' •.,..- " .• : J.''Mr.'jll:, J/Michaels thought that the ~ Rgure.s.Mr.»'Hopkins had given wero vcry:i- investigation was ;.< necessary. There had been,,continnal sales r of. shares. Who then 'Was selling? The ; New Zealand shareholders wero not They s'^™'H vi , D ff- Widows had put their ;•.:•? littlo.all' into the .Waihi mino because ■ i they had been told it• was.nn' investment vfand he■ .trusted that shareholders would >.-not, rest until they had found out wh« !: was; to. blamo for ; tho present stato of | .affairs.::.(Applause.); ">■ f.i Ledingharri thought it'would : to know how many shares ~.bad t been "swallowed up" by New'ZeaLiJttnd 'shareholders since .the English [shareholders began-to sell. ••.'■'■'■■ - !;'. Mr. .Jlull said'that shares held on the t ;odlonia] : :register, 6howed an increase of -,•-;, 25,000. in tho last few months. ' i;- ' T , no chairman said" if they' wanUd to t; find out why shares! which in January, !.- : :1910V wero at J!10 2s. Gd.' v aro nowi'down. Iv''i?; •? 3^'l7s /r they would have" to' leave " '-*? I ?,' country. The people • who "wor- ::; Tied,' down, tho shares had not dono it :; Icre. ,Mr. Colbeck. went on to allego [ , that> peoplo had been , selling with a" :■, knowledßo that neither he nor, tho share- \, holders ever possessed. „ It had, [\'h« asserted,ibeen dono with a'persist- [" fPV 1 .';??'! consistency that was laudablo, f;, but-if shareholders had had the infor- [• uiation couldjhey not, he-asked, have done the «amo? (Cries of "No.")' He ; eaul they could have done, not that theyj; would. It would not have been difficult or dangerous to take the eteps someone I; tOOki'- •''','. , '

i /A, voice: Not the directors. ; V, . ; ;.; Tho chairmnn said'ho was not saying I it was tho directors. Shareholders were thcro,to try and find out;why their pro- '«'??-?, tfl<l depreciated about. two-thirds. 1 (A-Ho'J- n °»R.h| .Mr,;;Hopkiftsr«had; ntfdoVfoS! >'■' S u T,; oI^ h ?.'' p ? 1 , ,"= "ad: accentuated,' (.Be (Mr. Colbeek) had been through tho !■'. Jjmo.sineo the shares began to.fall, and ;-.-there was.still a large amount of very f jood-.oro. at No. 9 level on the h'anging- •.; wall'of tho Martha lode. That reef had ; not "gone.out," though:hb did not know s My part;of, the No.. 9 level where, tho ?" footwair looked well. Nevertheless, i there : was a lot of good. stopiiig v ore on t the roef. Besides that tho Edward lodo ; at No. .9 level w,is payable for '... every foot- that had. been- driven -in-- it.r. There tvero immense blocks that would ! pay as well as anything that had come ' DUt of tho mine. Ho suggested that the .-"• Uituro management of tho inino should \ bo. taken out of tho hands of tho present {. - management. If the oro reserves returned' K .Iho average profit the sum,of .£2,163,000 ,' should eventually -como to shareholders ;. Irom: them. In addition tho Bs. per ton ;. that .had • been - spent on • development : would, if development wero stonoed, re-' I : Jrosent another. .£BOO,OOO profit for sharel' holders. Tho Horahora water-riower plant j nnd workings would sell for .£150,000, and -. If the mine'below tho No. <J level wero !- lold .together with tho Union and' Ainaf ranth section?,, .£500,000 could bo got for i, it within a fortnight; also' - thcro was .£50,000 cash," giving a total of .£1,113,000. ? W JtS. per share, that, shareholders could j, realise'., Mr. Hogkins had given them I the values of -thevMartha- lode, :but if ho! [ could'controvert his' (tho chairman's) f. figures, ho would be gladto havo him h on' the platform again. Ho advocated t- tho' shareholders strongly banding toj: Rcther to divido fa«t from fiction, valuea j from a ' gamble. If they stopped work I in | the mine below No. 10 level, they f could-get tho amount ho had quoted. I Tf they left'the mino to tho present ji jnanagement they practically gavo them > a blank cheque'to uso as they liked, and f shareholders might not reccfyo tho prei. sent yaluo of their shares.' A number of ('•' women had put more than they could j spare into the mine, and' it was their i ; duty to do all, they could to get it back » tor them. :■ They could como into tho !■. .-omblo again afterwords'if thoy ' liked; i'fle strongly favoured operations being 1 stooped below No. 10 level. ! Mr.Rathbono thought that in the past \ was dead they should bury it. Ho moved: f "That in the opinion of this meeting, tho |.: present method of keeping the register j Is unsatisfactory,' and that It shotild bo i kept in a manner which will show clearly r all,the transactions in shares." / Dr. King seconded the motion, tho • chairman declaring in reply to Mr. Hop- | kins that his resolution had lapsed for [ want of a seconder. j Mr. G. A. Buttlo (ex-chairman of the i: Auckland Stock Exchange) defied anyone • looking'at tho register-kept by tho Waihi !-.: Company to discover how anyono had \ : ; disposed of his shares.. What th»7 wanted.

to,get at .was, tho daily .register kept by the company' of "shares handed' in for hnnsfer, which showed nt n glaneo from whom tho bought and to whom wcro sold. , Tho 'motion was- p\it and 'carried unanimously. ■ ■■■■■■ Another motion carried was that all changes' in.*thd ' minCi -" whether, .good or bad, bo immediately cabled to London, and given to. tho.local'press at the eamo. time. ......: _■'..,-..« ,<, Tho following motions" wero' also Carried:—

That this' meeting request tho board to obtain an independent report as to how tho mine stands to-day, and to investigate tho management of?the mino for-tho past twelvo months, and ascertain if reports have been given fairly to board and shareholders. Tho tho following committee bo appointed from this mooting to act in coni unction with other committees in_ tho )ominion in.an endeavour to obtain n change in the management and operations of .tho company:—Messrs. John Colbeck, Shirley, Baker, ' Georgo Thomson, W. Aldingham, and J. N. Clifford. 'STATEMENT BY THE HON. R. :••'.■ :M'KENZIE. } (By TclcEraph—Press Association.) .-■.•'-.' Hamilton, February 8. Interviewed, at Hamilton the Hon. It. M'Kcnzio-said ho did not think tho drop in Waihi shares would bo detrimental to mining generally throughout tho Dominion, although it might affect the Waihi mines for a time. J. •